As if to give an indication of how serious they were about a fightback, Leo Varadakar led out the team yesterday morning.

The Health Minister was the one who raised a flag of concern about the handling of garda issues through the torrid months of late 2013 and right through much of 2014. In fact, he enraged his Labour cabinet colleagues on a few occasions, loitering on the boundaries of dissent, while they stayed stoically silent to the dismay of their own party supporters.

But from early morning yesterday, Mr Varadkar was at his most strident defending his boss. His message was in essence repeated by the others who followed as he went through all the points and conceded virtually no ground.

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